Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) will, unfortunately, have an impact on our fishing industry. However, this impact would have been far greater had the Barnier Task Force agreed to UK demands, or had we been in a no-deal scenario which would have seen all EU vessels barred from UK waters and subsequent displacement into Ireland's fishing zone.

There is, however, one key element in the final negotiation outcome which gives rise to major concern and dissatisfaction in Ireland and this relates to the disproportionate payment Ireland was required to make towards the final fish quota transfer package to the UK.

I wish to assure the Deputy that this Government intends to continue to keep the focus on this very undesirable situation and to use any opportunity available to seek constructive solutions that would help to alleviate this unacceptable position.

On 20th January, I met with Michel Barnier, the EU Fisheries Commissioner and the Ministers of the Fisheries Group of 8 on fisheries related matters post-Brexit. I raised this matter of inequitable burden sharing directly at this meeting.

I also raised this matter at EU Fisheries Councils in both January and February. At the February meeting, I put forward a practical proposal to seek an exchange from the UK of mackerel for North Sea whitefish on the basis of a proposal from the Irish industry. However, this was rejected by all relevant Member States.

I raised the matter once more at a meeting held on 2nd March with the Ambassadors to Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, where I expressed my keenness to see the solidarity so evident before the conclusion of the TCA continue to find ways to reduce this imbalance. I also reminded the Ambassadors that Ireland contributes the largest fishing grounds to the CFP.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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From the outset of the EU/UK negotiations on a future relationship, Ireland and our EU partners were very clear on our level of ambition on fisheries and on the fact that the EU had directly linked progress on an overall trade deal to progress on fisheries. We were seeking to protect the interests of the Irish fleet in terms of both quota share and access to UK waters. This was reflected in the EU negotiation mandate and the draft EU legal text. This Government, and the previous Government, fully supported the EU negotiating mandate.

The briefing material provided to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Defence in relation to fisheries in the context of the Minister for Foreign Affairs meeting with the French Minister for European and Foreign Affairs in Paris on 3 December 2020 provided detailed background and analysis and made clear that any outcome in the future relationship negotiations that resulted in a loss of quota share for the EU would be severely damaging to both the Irish and French fishing industries.

It set down the concerns about restriction or denial of access to EU waters and the likely associated displacement of EU fishing activity into Ireland’s zone. It emphasised that Ireland’s position was to require the status quo be maintained for both quotas and access to all fishing grounds enjoyed by the UK and EU vessels.

As you are fully aware, fisheries was one of the most difficult areas of the negotiations. The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement sets out new arrangements for the joint management of more than 100 shared fish stocks in EU and UK waters. Under the Agreement, EU fishing vessels will continue to have the current level of access to UK waters at least until 2026, with quota transfers from the EU to the UK across the different stocks over that time.

Fisheries was an extremely important priority for Ireland and the EU as a whole in the negotiations with the UK. The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement will unfortunately have an impact on the Irish fishing industry. However, this impact would have been far greater had the Barnier Task Force agreed to UK demands, or had we been in a no deal scenario which would have seen all EU vessels barred from UK waters, and the subsequent displacement into Ireland's fishing zone.